soul-frame/OpenQuestions.md

# Open Questions Register

Questions that remain unresolved or contested. Link related entries in
`Claims.md`, `ThoughtExperiments.md`, and `concepts/` where helpful.

**Phase I update:** 2026-08-12 — several RQs refined; detail OQs from RN-005/006
indexed below.

---

## RQ1 — What constitutes a Being?

**Phase I status:** refined, not closed.

Working answer: multi-layer profile (autonomous individuality + personhood +
addressability + recognition). Still open:

- Weighting and thresholds of B1–B8
- Observer-relative individuation without arbitrariness
- Nested levels (colony, collective, multi-Body)

## RQ2 — What constitutes personhood?

**Phase III status:** **working answer** — multidimensional descriptive profile
P1–P12; four kinds (descriptive/social/moral/legal); default = descriptive.
Remaining:

- Weighting / sufficiency thresholds for Beinghood v0.2
- Moral and legal maps (explicitly deferred)
- Measurement methods for artificial systems

## RQ3 — What constitutes a Mind?

**Phase II status:** model-based reading **supported** (H3); Social Mind SM1–SM8
architecture adopted provisionally. Remaining:

- Precise definition of “model” (OQ-055) — inclusive working def in concepts/mind.md
- Minimal apparatus for non-social vs social Mind
- Recursive depth for personhood (OQ-056)
- When common ground becomes collective Mind (OQ-067)

## RQ4 — What constitutes a Soul?

**Phase I–II status:** revised definition (boundary removed); **not closed**.
Phase II ends by pointing to Cluster D: what persists from interactions beyond
immediate models (relational persistence = Soul’s domain).

- Rename vs retain “Soul”
- Packaging: relations vs consequences vs both
- Relation to lineage after identity ends

## RQ5 — How does identity persist?

**Phase I status:** structure clarified (Identity ≠ Continuity ≠ Lineage); open:

- Continuity weighting (OQ-043)
- Dormancy ontology (OQ-046/047)
- Fork rights and relationship branching (OQ-050/051)
- Ghost authority and gradual transition (OQ-052/053)
- Merge responsibility (OQ-054)

## RQ6 — How does recognition create social beinghood?

**Phase II status:** **refined answer available** — recognition constitutive of
*social* Beinghood, not bare autonomous individuality; three senses fixed;
TE-09 judged. Remaining:

- Exact label policy for Beinghood v0.2 vs “autonomous individual”
- Minimal intentional vs social recognition conditions
- Moral/legal recognition deferred to Phase III

## RQ7 — What is character?

**Phase III status:** **working answer** — dispositional structure ≠ state ≠
persona ≠ identity; H8/TE-06 for multi-Persona. Remaining:

- Integration thresholds across masks
- Computational character beyond style mimicry (eval methods)
- Relation of Character to Sp./Gh. provenance (Phase V)

## RQ8 — What kinds of artificial Being exist?

**Phase IV status:** Agent architectures mapped as Functional Agent / APE /
proto-Being / candidate Being / heteronomous individual. Sp./Gh. remain Phase V
for authority and public-reflection provenance. Remaining:

- Formal typology vs dimensions (H9)
- Evaluation criteria for candidate Being claims
- Org “digital employees” vs constitutive Being

## Cross-cutting

- Memory vs continuity thresholds (when does memory become continuity of a Being?)
- Vendor-held companion memory: constitutive continuity vs Continuity Bridge under custody
- Silent memory edit / semantic rollback as identity threats (OQ-MEM-02, OQ-MEM-05)
- Shared RAG across personas (OQ-MEM-01); multi-Body shared graphs
- Model upgrade with retained memory (OQ-MEM-03) — operational H6 tests
- Operational / identity / social death / legacy interactions
- Law/governance map (Phase V/XII)
- Fiction as conceptual laboratory (Phase VI/XIII)

### Indexed OQs from research notes

| ID | Topic | Note |
|---|---|---|
| OQ-043–054 | Identity continuity governance | RN-005 |
| OQ-055–068 | Social mind / co-adaptation | RN-006 |
| OQ-MEM-01–06 | Agent memory architectures | Phase IV persistence map |

---

## Resolved / refined (Phase I–II)

| Item | Disposition | Pointer |
|---|---|---|
| Boundary belongs to Soul? | **No** — boundary to Being | RN-001 SF-C002 |
| Autonomy alone = Beinghood? | **No** | RN-003 principal falsification |
| Identity = memory dump? | **No** | RN-004/005 |
| Identity = Continuity? | **No** — may branch | Parfit; RN-004 |
| Soul = boundary? | **No** — Soul = relation | RN-001 §14 |
| Actor = Being? | **No** | H6; TE-04 |
| Mind = consciousness? | **No** — model-based control | H3; Phase II map |
| Co-adaptation = model exchange? | **No** — joint evolution via interaction | H4; RN-006 |
| Shared intentionality = Social Mind? | **No** — special case of cooperation | RN-006 |
| Recognition creates systemic Being? | **No** — creates/enables Social Beinghood | H7; TE-09 |
| Unrecognized intelligence impossible? | **No** — autonomy without social Beinghood | TE-09 |
| Personhood = Beinghood? | **No** — H2; APE vs Being | Phase III |
| Character = Identity? | **No** | RN-004; Phase III |
| Persona = Being? | **No** — projection | H8; TE-06 |
| Descriptive personhood = moral/legal? | **No** — four kinds | Phase III |
| Generative agent = Being? | **No** — APE/proto-Being, heteronomous | Phase IV; Park et al. |
| Memory store = continuity? | **No** — conditions required | Phase IV persistence map |
| Model = Being? | **No** — Actor | H6; Phase IV |